JP2007025375A - Repeating device, communication terminal device, signal decoding device, signal processing method, and signal processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a repeating device, a communication terminal device, a signal decoding device, a signal processing method, and a program that can constitute a multi-person speech communication system which prevents large deterioration of a decoded speech without making the calculation cost for processing larger than a conventional communication device, communication method, etc. <P>SOLUTION: The repeating device is equipped with a reception section 11 which receives information transmitted from respective communication terminal devices participating in multi-person speech communication and encoded by layers by scalable encoding, a reconstitution processing section 15 which generates control information for combining the encoded information that the reception section 11 receives from the respective communication terminal devices in layer units, and an integrated transmission section 16 which scalably combines and integrates the encoded information that the reception section 11 receives from the respective communication terminal devices in the layer units based upon the control information generated by the reconstitution processing section 15 and transmits the integrated encoded information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay device, a communication terminal device, a signal decoding device, a signal processing method, and a signal processing program used in a communication system that encodes and transmits a signal.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, multi-party call systems that make a call between three or more parties, represented by a multipoint conference system, have been widely used. Usually, in order to make a call between three or more parties, a channel is assigned to each terminal for the voice transmitted from each terminal as in digital communication performed in a communication network such as ISDN. A method of realizing a multi-party call by transmitting via a line is used.

  As another method, there is a method in which a communication device itself such as an exchange, a communication server, and a telephone device has a function enabling a multi-party call. Specifically, in a communication apparatus such as each exchange, a method of decoding a signal transmitted from each terminal, superimposing each signal obtained by decoding, re-encoding and transmitting to a predetermined terminal It is done. Also, when the telephone device has a multi-party call function, the received signal transmitted from another terminal is decoded, and the received voice signal input to the telephone device is superimposed and re-encoded and transmitted to the exchange. The method is taken. The communication technology for the above-described multi-party call is described in Patent Document 1, for example.

Also, in recent years, in the encoding of voice signals and musical sound signals, it is possible to decode voice / musical sound signals even from a part of the encoded information, and scalable that can suppress deterioration in sound quality even in a situation where packet loss occurs. An encoding technique has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). This scalable coding technology encodes audio and musical signals so that the audio and musical signals can be decoded even from a part of the encoded information, and even if packet loss occurs, the sound quality deteriorates. Can be suppressed. Specifically, the input signal is encoded in the first layer to generate encoded information, and the input signal and the (i−) th (i −)-th layer (i is an integer of 2 or more) in the upper (i−1) th layer (i is an integer of 2 or more). 1) A method is known in which a residual signal, which is a difference from a decoded signal obtained according to encoding information of a layer, is generated, and further, encoding according to the residual signal is repeated in a higher i-th layer. ing.
JP 2004-222194 A JP-A-10-97295

  However, in such a telephone device having a conventional multi-party call function, since the received encoded information is once decoded, and the decoded signal is superimposed on another audio signal and encoded again, a large amount is required. In addition to requiring a high calculation cost, there is a problem that the quality of speech obtained by decoding speech that has been encoded a plurality of times is extremely deteriorated. A method of increasing the number of lines according to the number of participants is also conceivable, but as the number of participants increases, the number of necessary lines increases, the communication cost and the line usage rate increase, and a problem arises in feasibility.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve such problems, and does not increase the calculation cost in processing and prevents a large deterioration in decoded speech, compared to conventional communication apparatuses and communication methods. The present invention provides a relay device, a communication terminal device, a signal decoding device, a signal processing method, and a signal processing program capable of realizing a call system.

  The relay device of the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives encoded information that is transmitted from each communication terminal device participating in a multi-party call and is encoded for each layer by scalable encoding, and the receiving unit includes Based on the reconfiguration processing unit that creates control information for combining the encoded information received from the communication terminal device in units of layers, and the control information generated by the reconfiguration processing unit, the receiving unit The encoded information received from the communication terminal apparatus is integrated and combined in a scalable manner in units of layers, and an integrated transmission unit that transmits the integrated encoded information.

  With this configuration, since the input encoded information is reconstructed and transmitted without decoding, the decoded speech can be further increased without increasing the calculation cost in processing compared to conventional communication apparatuses, communication methods, and the like. It is possible to realize a relay device capable of realizing a multi-party call system that prevents major deterioration of the communication.

  Further, the relay device of the present invention has a control parameter including a transmission bit rate of past transmission set for each of the communication terminal devices participating in the multiparty call, and the reconfiguration processing unit includes the The control information for combining the encoded information to be transmitted to each of the communication terminal devices is created based on a control parameter.

  With this configuration, in order to create control information for combining encoded information to be transmitted to each communication terminal device based on control parameters including transmission bit rates of past transmissions, a new transmission bit rate is detected and controlled. It is possible to realize a relay apparatus that can reduce the processing load for creating information.

  Further, in the relay device according to the present invention, the reconfiguration processing unit communicates the audio level of the audio reproduced based on the encoded information transmitted from the communication terminal devices and the communication terminal devices. The control parameter is set on the basis of information on the communication state including the line state of the line used for the control.

  With this configuration, since the control parameters are set based on the communication state including the audio level of the audio to be reproduced and the line status, a relay device capable of realizing a layer configuration that reproduces audio that can be easily heard on the receiving side. Can be realized.

  In addition, the relay device of the present invention is configured such that when a new communication terminal device participates in the multi-party call or when the communication terminal device participating in the multi-party call stops the multi-party call, A configuration processing unit updates the control parameter.

  With this configuration, since the control parameter is updated when the number of participants in the multiparty call is changed, it is possible to realize a relay device that can further reduce the processing load for creating control information.

  Further, in the relay device according to the present invention, the reconfiguration processing unit, based on the control parameter, encodes the encoded information for a predetermined layer from a base layer among the encoded information received from each of the communication terminal devices. Selected and combined.

  With this configuration, since the encoding information is selected and combined based on the control parameter, it is possible to realize a relay device that can reduce the processing load.

  In the relay device according to the present invention, the reconfiguration processing unit may transmit the encoded information transmitted in each time zone by each of the communication terminal devices participating in the multi-party call in the same time zone. After receiving the transmitted encoded information, the encoded information transmitted in the next time zone is received.

  With this configuration, since the encoded information transmitted in the same time zone is received and the encoded information transmitted in the next time zone is received, a relay device capable of clarifying the processing is realized. can do.

  In addition, the relay device according to the present invention, when a new communication terminal device participates in the multiparty call, the communication terminal device and the new communication that attempt to cause the new communication terminal device to participate in the multiparty call. The terminal device is connected by a line different from the line on which the multi-party call is performed.

  With this configuration, since the two communication terminal devices related to the interruption are connected by a line different from the line on which the multi-party call is performed, the relay apparatus capable of performing the process related to the interruption without interrupting the multi-party call Can be realized.

  In addition, the relay device of the present invention enables the communication terminal device participating in the multi-party call and the new communication terminal device to communicate with the communication terminal device participating in the multi-party call and the new communication terminal device. The communication terminal device is connected by a line different from the line on which the multi-party call is performed.

  With this configuration, since the two communication terminal devices related to the interruption are connected by a line different from the line on which the multi-party call is performed, the relay apparatus capable of performing the process related to the interruption without interrupting the multi-party call Can be realized.

  Further, the communication terminal device of the present invention is based on a receiving unit that receives encoded information encoded for each layer by scalable encoding, and control information included in the encoded information received by the receiving unit, A decoding unit that decodes a speech signal by scalable decoding, and a coding unit that encodes a speech signal by scalable coding based on the control information included in the coding information received by the reception unit; The encoding unit includes a transmission unit that transmits the encoded information obtained by encoding.

  With this configuration, since the input encoded information is reconstructed and transmitted without decoding, the decoded speech can be further increased without increasing the calculation cost in processing compared to conventional communication apparatuses, communication methods, and the like. It is possible to realize a communication terminal device capable of realizing a multi-party call system that prevents major deterioration of the communication.

  The signal decoding apparatus according to the present invention includes an encoded information separation unit that separates an information source code and control information from encoded information configured by a plurality of layers by scalable encoding, and the code based on the control information. And a decoding unit for decoding the conversion information for each layer.

  With this configuration, since the encoded information is decoded for each layer based on the control information, a signal decoding apparatus capable of decoding encoded information transmitted from different communication terminal apparatuses and integrated in different layers is provided. Can be realized.

  Further, the signal decoding apparatus according to the present invention has a configuration in which the decoding unit decodes the encoded information encoded for each layer from a base layer to a predetermined layer. Yes.

  With this configuration, since the encoded information encoded for each layer is decoded from the base layer, it is possible to realize a signal decoding apparatus that can appropriately decode even when the transmission bit rate is reduced. it can.

  The signal processing method of the present invention includes a reception step in which a receiver receives encoded information that is transmitted from each communication terminal device participating in a multi-party call and is encoded for each layer by scalable encoding; A reconstruction step in which a reconstruction processing unit creates control information for combining the encoded information received from each of the communication terminal devices in the reception step in units of layers, and the control created by the reconstruction processing unit Based on the information, an integration step in which the encoded information received from each of the communication terminal devices is integrated and combined in units of layers in an integrated manner, and the encoded information integrated in the integration step is integrated. And a transmission step for transmission by the transmission unit.

  With this configuration, since the input encoded information is reconstructed and transmitted without decoding, the decoded speech can be further increased without increasing the calculation cost in processing compared to conventional communication apparatuses, communication methods, and the like. Thus, it is possible to realize a signal processing method capable of realizing a multi-party call system that prevents major deterioration of the communication.

  In addition, the signal processing program of the present invention is a reception step of receiving encoded information that is transmitted from each communication terminal device participating in a multi-party call to a computer and encoded for each layer by scalable encoding; Based on the reconfiguration step of creating control information for combining the encoded information received from each of the communication terminal devices in the reception step in units of layers, and the control information generated in the reconfiguration step, the reception Performing an integration step in which the encoded information received from each of the communication terminal devices in a step is combined and integrated in units of layers, and a transmission step of transmitting the encoded information integrated in the integration step. It has a characteristic configuration.

  With this configuration, since the input encoded information is reconstructed and transmitted without decoding, the decoded speech can be further increased without increasing the calculation cost in processing compared to conventional communication apparatuses, communication methods, and the like. It is possible to realize a signal processing program capable of realizing a multi-party call system that prevents major deterioration of the communication.

  In the present invention, since the input encoded information is reconstructed and transmitted without decoding, the decoded speech is further increased without increasing the calculation cost in processing compared to conventional communication apparatuses, communication methods, and the like. It is possible to provide a relay device, a communication terminal device, a signal decoding device, a signal processing method, and a signal processing program that have the effect of realizing a multi-party call system that prevents large deterioration of the communication.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block configuration of a communication system having a relay device and a communication terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the communication system includes communication terminal devices 1A to 1N that can make multi-party calls, relay device 10, and transmission paths 2A to 2N that connect communication terminal devices 1A to 1N and the like to relay device 10. The terminal devices 1 </ b> A to 1 </ b> N are in a state where multi-party calls can be made with each other via the relay device 10.

  Hereinafter, the relay apparatus 10 constituting the communication system will be described from the viewpoint of realizing the multi-party call function. Since the two-party call function is the same as the conventional one, its description is omitted. Also, encoding and decoding are performed hierarchically using a CELP (Code-Excited Linear Prediction) method.

  Here, “base layer”, “first enhancement layer”, “second enhancement layer”, “third enhancement layer” from the bottom of each hierarchy (hereinafter referred to as “layer”), respectively. The layers other than the base layer are called “extended layers”. By hierarchizing in this way, when a sufficient bit rate representing the communication speed can be secured, data of all layers is transmitted, and when a sufficient bit rate cannot be secured, a lower layer is used according to the bit rate. Data up to a predetermined layer is transmitted to ensure scalability.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the relay device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the relay device 10 receives the signal transmitted from the communication terminal devices 1 </ b> A to 1 </ b> N and the like, and determines whether or not the received signal includes an interrupt signal. The interrupt determination unit 12, the first interrupt pattern processing unit 20, the second interrupt pattern processing unit 30, and the third interrupt pattern processing unit 40 that perform interrupt processing according to the interrupt signal, and reception A coded information separating unit 13 that sequentially separates a predetermined portion of coded information (hereinafter referred to as “received coded information”) in the received signal, and a code that manages information that is sequentially separated by the coded information separating unit 13 An integrated information management unit 14, a reconstruction processing unit 15 for reconstructing encoded information to be transmitted to the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N, etc., an encoded information integration unit 16a for integrating the reconstructed encoded information, etc. Coded information is sent to each communication terminal. Comprising a transmitter 16b for transmitting to the device 1A~1N like, control switches 18a, connection is switched in response to the interrupt signal, and 18b, and a communication processing unit 19 for performing line connection and the line disconnection. Here, a combination of the encoded information integration unit 16a and the transmission unit 16b for transmission is referred to as an “integrated transmission unit 16”.

  The receiving unit 11 receives signals transmitted from the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N through the transmission lines 2A to 2N and outputs the received signals to the interrupt determination unit 12.

  The interrupt determination unit 12 receives the signal output from the reception unit 11 and includes an interrupt signal for changing the connection of the communication terminal device so as to increase or decrease the number of participants in the multi-party call in the input signal. When it is determined that the interrupt signal is included, the interrupt signal pattern is determined, and the interrupt signal is output to the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30, and 40 according to the interrupt signal pattern. When it is determined that the interrupt signal is not included, the input signal is output to the encoded information separation unit 13.

  Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that the multi-party call is performed between the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N. Here, the interrupt signal has the following three patterns. First, when the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N cause the communication terminal devices 1Z other than the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N to participate in the multi-party call while the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N are involved in the multi-party call, the first pattern interrupt signal is transmitted. This is a participation request signal transmitted from any of 1N. When the multi-party call is performed as described above, the second pattern interrupt signal is transmitted from the communication terminal device 1A to the communication terminal device 1Z other than the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N participating in the multi-party call. This is a participation request signal for requesting communication with any of 1N (hereinafter referred to as communication terminal apparatus 1A). The interrupt signal of the third pattern is one of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N (hereinafter referred to as communication terminal device 1N) participating in the multi-party call when the multi-party call is performed as described above. ) Is a line disconnection request signal transmitted when requesting the end of a multi-party call. In FIG. 2, the interrupt determination unit 12 connects the control switches 18 a and 18 b to the terminals A and A ′, respectively, and outputs a first pattern interrupt signal to the first interrupt pattern processing unit 20. Show the state.

  The encoded information separation unit 13 receives the signal output from the interrupt determination unit 12, and the received encoded information included in the input signal is referred to as an information source code component (hereinafter referred to as "information source code component"). ) And control information components (hereinafter, referred to as “control information components”), and the information source code component and the control information component that have been sequentially separated are output to the encoded information management unit 14.

  Here, the information source code refers to encoded voice information such as call contents transmitted from each of the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N. In addition, the control information includes information on information source code, error correction information, and error including information on a transmission bit rate (hereinafter referred to as “terminal transmission mode information”) when each of the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N transmits. This refers to detection information.

  The encoded information management unit 14 receives the information source code component and the control information component output from the encoded information separation unit 13 and transmits them from each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N participating in the multiparty call in each time zone. The information source code component and the control information component are sequentially stored and managed, and stored when the information source code and control information transmitted from the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N in the same time zone are obtained. The information source code and control information obtained in this way are output to the reconstruction processing unit 15.

  The reconfiguration processing unit 15 outputs the information source code and control information of the same time zone output from the encoded information management unit 14 and the output from the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30, 40 (hereinafter referred to as "interrupt"). "Processing output") is input, and based on the control parameters set in the relay device 10, information source codes and control information to be transmitted to the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N, etc. are reconfigured and reconfigured. The obtained information (information source code and control information) is output to the encoded information integration unit 16a. Here, the control parameter is a predetermined parameter including a transmission bit rate at the time of transmission to each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N set for each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N, and is set in the relay device 10. (Assumed to be set in the reconstruction processing unit 15). Further, when the interrupt processing output from the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30 and 40 is input to the reconfiguration processing unit 15, the above control parameters are updated according to the interrupt processing output.

  Below, the process which the reconstruction process part 15 reconfigure | reconstructs the information source code transmitted to each communication terminal device 1A-1N etc. based on a control parameter is demonstrated in detail. First, the reconfiguration processing unit 15 refers to the control parameters set in the reconfiguration processing unit 15 and calculates information source codes for necessary layers from the information source codes transmitted from the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N. Extract. At this time, if the transmission bit rate among the control parameters set for each of the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N is larger than the transmission bit rate indicated by the terminal transmission mode information in the reception encoded information, the transmission of the reception is performed. Information source codes for layers corresponding to the bit rate are extracted.

  Description will be made by taking as an example a communication mode in which the number of layers is 4 and the transmission bit rates are BR1, BR2, BR3, and BR4 (BR1 <BR2 <BR3 <BR4). In the reconfiguration processing unit 15, for example, the transmission bit rate set for the communication terminal device 1A is BR2, and the transmission bit rate indicated by the terminal transmission mode information in the received encoded information received from the communication terminal device 1A is In the case of BR3, the reconstruction processing unit 15 performs information source codes of the base layer and the first enhancement layer (hereinafter referred to as “base layer information source code”, “first”, respectively) so as to correspond to the lower transmission bit rate. "1 enhancement layer information source code") is selected and extracted.

  Conversely, when the transmission bit rate set for the communication terminal device 1A is BR3 and the transmission bit rate indicated by the terminal transmission mode information in the received encoded information received from the communication terminal device 1A is BR2, the transmission bit rate is Similar to the above, the configuration processing unit 15 selects and extracts the base layer information source code and the first enhancement layer information source code so as to correspond to the lower transmission bit rate.

  When the reconfiguration processing unit 15 extracts the information source code of each layer from the received encoded information for each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N, the reconfiguration processing unit 15 reconfigures and reconfigures the extracted information source code and control information. The information is output to the encoded information integration unit 16a. Specifically, the information source code transmitted to a certain communication terminal device participating in a multi-party call (referred to as communication terminal device 1A) is obtained by removing this communication terminal device 1A from all communication terminal devices 1A to 1N. The information source codes of the respective layers extracted by the above-described processing from the information source codes output from the communication terminal apparatuses 1B to 1N. Control information transmitted to each of the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N includes relay apparatus transmission mode information and information source configuration information described below.

  First, the relay device transmission mode information is information indicating a transmission bit rate at the time of transmission to each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N, and one is selected from a plurality of predetermined transmission bit rates. . In the first embodiment of the present invention, the relay device transmission mode information includes four predetermined transmission bit rates BR1, BR2, BR3, BR4 (BR1 <BR2 <BR3 <BR4). It can be taken.

  Also, the information source configuration information is the information source code of which layer of the information source code received from which communication terminal device 1A to 1N is the information source code transmitted to each communication terminal device 1A to 1N. It is information which shows. For example, the information source code transmitted to the communication terminal device 1A is the base layer information source code and the first enhancement layer information source code received from the communication terminal device 1B, and the second enhancement layer information source received from the communication terminal device 1C. When configured with a code and a third enhancement layer information source code, the information source configuration information is configured as “B: L2 (base, enh1), C: L2 (enh2, enh3)”. Here, L2 below the communication terminal device ID means the number of layers (occupied layer number) occupied by the reorganized information source code received from the communication terminal device of this ID, and when the number of occupied layers is one In the case of L1, three, it is L3. The parentheses below the number of occupied layers indicate which layer each information source code occupies at the time of transmission. Here, base, enh1, enh2, and enh3 mean a base layer information source code, a first enhancement layer information source code, a second enhancement layer information source code, and a third enhancement layer information source code, respectively.

  Next, when the interrupt processing output from the first interrupt pattern processing unit 20, the second interrupt pattern processing unit 30 and the third interrupt pattern processing unit 40 is input to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 The control parameter update process performed by the reconstruction processing unit 15 will be described.

  First, when an interrupt signal is input to the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30, 40, information indicating communication terminal devices participating in a multiparty call from the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30, 40 to which the interrupt signal is input (Hereinafter referred to as “terminal set information”) is input. This terminal set information is information indicating a communication terminal device that participates in a multiparty call at the time when the interrupt processing output is received. Based on the obtained terminal set information, the reconfiguration processing unit 15 determines which communication terminal apparatus receives each layer of the encoded information to be transmitted to each communication terminal apparatus from which information source code. The interrupt process output may include, for example, an interrupt signal input to the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30, and 40. In this case, when the interrupt signal is input from the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30, and 40 to the reconstruction processing unit 15, the reconfiguration processing unit 15 maintains the set current control parameter.

  Specifically, for example, in a four-layer scalable communication, when a multi-party call is performed between three communication terminals 1A, 1B, and 1C, the remaining communication terminals 1A, 1B, and 1C It is determined how information source codes sent from the two communication terminal apparatuses are assigned to the four layers. As an assignment method, for example, two layers may be assigned to each of the remaining two communication terminal apparatuses. In this case, the control parameter is updated to “A: L2, B: L2, C: L2”. Further, as another allocation method, for example, communication including a voice level of a sound reproduced based on each encoded information transmitted from each communication terminal apparatus and a line status of a line used for communication with each communication terminal apparatus Layers may be assigned non-uniformly based on information about the state. The reconfiguration processing unit 15 determines how to allocate information source codes to be transmitted to each communication terminal apparatus, and then updates the number of layers allocated to each communication terminal apparatus as a new control parameter.

  The encoded information integration unit 16a receives the reconstructed information source code and control information output from the reconstruction processing unit 15, and transmits the input information source code and control information to the communication terminal devices 1A to 1D as transmission destinations. The information is integrated every 1N and output to the transmission unit 16b.

  The transmitting unit 16b transmits the information source code and control information output by the encoded information integrating unit 16a integrated for each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N to each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N.

  The communication processing unit 19 performs line connection and line disconnection according to signals output from the interrupt pattern processing units 20, 30 and 40. In FIG. 2, a solid arrow indicates a direction in which a signal flows, and a broken arrow indicates a control direction.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the first interrupt pattern processing unit 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The first interrupt pattern processing unit 20 includes a number determination unit 21, a first pattern switching processing unit 22, a connection preparation unit 23, a permission determination unit 24, a cutting preparation unit 25, a third pattern switching processing unit 26, and a second pattern. A switching processing unit 27 and control switches 201 to 203 are provided.

  First, the number determination unit 21 receives a first pattern interrupt signal output from the interrupt determination unit 12, and allows the number of communication terminal devices currently participating in a multi-party call to communicate with each other. If the number of communication terminal devices participating in a multi-party call is smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices, the control switch 201 is determined. Is connected to the terminal P1 side, and the interrupt signal and the number of communication terminal devices participating in the multi-party call are output to the first pattern switching processing unit 22. Here, the maximum number of terminal devices can be set to a predetermined number equal to or less than the number of layers of scalable coding, for example. Further, when the number of communication terminal devices currently participating in multi-party calls is not less than the maximum number of terminal devices, the number determination unit 21 connects the control switch 201 to the terminal Q1 side, and the reconfiguration processing unit 15 The interrupt signal and the number of communication terminal devices participating in the multi-party call are output.

  When the control switch 201 is connected to the terminal P1 side, the first pattern switching processing unit 22 receives the interrupt signal output from the number determination unit 21 and the number of communication terminal devices participating in the multi-party call. A communication terminal device (hereinafter referred to as communication terminal device 1A) that has transmitted a participation request signal that causes communication terminal device 1Z to participate in a multi-party call, included in the interrupt signal of the first pattern, is used as a multi-party call. The terminal set information (1B to 1N) of the remaining communication terminal devices excluded from the participating communication terminal devices 1A to 1N is output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15. Further, the first pattern switching processing unit 22 outputs the interrupt signal of the first pattern to the connection preparation unit 23 when the control switch 201 is connected to the terminal P1 side. Further, the first pattern switching processing unit 22 does not operate when the control switch 201 is connected to the terminal Q1 side.

  The connection preparation unit 23 receives the interrupt signal of the first pattern output from the first pattern switching processing unit 22, and includes the communication terminal device 1A that has transmitted the participation request signal included in the interrupt signal of the first pattern and the participation. Information representing the communication terminal device 1Z to be output is output to the communication processing unit 19. Further, the connection preparation unit 23 outputs an interrupt signal of the first pattern to the control switch 202.

  The communication processing unit 19 shown in FIG. 2 receives information indicating the communication terminal device 1A that has transmitted the participation request signal and the communication terminal device 1Z that is to participate, and is output from the connection preparation unit 23 shown in FIG. And the communication terminal device 1Z are connected by a line different from the line used for the multi-party call. Next, the communication processing unit 19 connects the control switch 202 to the terminal Y1 when the connection between the two communication terminal devices 1A and 1Z is established, and when the connection is not established, the communication processing unit 19 connects the control switch 202 to the terminal N1. Control to connect to the side. In addition, the communication processing unit 19 participates in whether or not to participate in a multi-party call that is a signal transmitted from the communication terminal device 1Z while the two communication terminal devices 1A and 1Z are talking on the separate line. When the availability signal is received, the received participation availability signal is output to the permission determination unit 24. Hereinafter, a signal indicating participation in a multi-party call is referred to as a “participation approval signal”, and a signal indicating not participating is referred to as a “participation rejection signal”. In addition, when the communication processing unit 19 outputs a participation permission / prohibition signal to the permission determination unit 24, the communication processing unit 19 performs a disconnection (termination) process of a call performed on another line under the control of the disconnection preparation unit 25.

  When the control switch 202 is connected to the terminal Y1 side, the permission determination unit 24 receives the first pattern interrupt signal output from the connection preparation unit 23 and the participation permission / inhibition signal output from the communication processing unit 19. Is done. The permission determination unit 24 connects the control switch 203 to the terminal A1 side and outputs the interrupt signal of the first pattern to the disconnection preparation unit 25 when the participation permission signal input from the communication processing unit 19 is a participation approval signal. To do. Further, the permission determination unit 24 connects the control switch 203 to the terminal D1 side when the input participation permission signal is a participation rejection signal, and outputs an interrupt signal of the first pattern to the disconnection preparation unit 25. Further, the permission determination unit 24 does not operate when the control switch 202 is connected to the terminal N1 side.

  When the control switch 202 is connected to the terminal N1 side, the second pattern switching processing unit 27 receives the interrupt signal of the first pattern output from the connection preparation unit 23, and participates in the multi-party call. Terminal set information (1A to 1N) obtained by adding information indicating the communication terminal apparatus 1A included in the interrupt signal of the first pattern transmitted from the terminal apparatus 1A to the current terminal set information (1B to 1N). The data is output to the reconstruction processing unit 15. The second pattern switching processing unit 27 receives the first pattern interrupt signal output from the disconnection preparation unit 25 and transmits it from the communication terminal device 1A when the control switch 203 is connected to the terminal D1. The terminal set information (1A to 1N) obtained by adding the information indicating the communication terminal device 1A included in the first pattern interrupt signal to the current terminal set information (1B to 1N) to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 Output. Further, the second pattern switching processing unit 27 does not operate when the control switch 202 is connected to the terminal N1 side and the control switch 203 is connected to the terminal D1 side.

  When the interrupt signal of the first pattern output from the permission determination unit 24 is input to the cutting preparation unit 25 and the control switch 203 is connected to the terminal D1 side, the cutting preparation unit 25 sends the first pattern to the second pattern switching processing unit 27. The interrupt signal is output. In addition, the cutting preparation unit 25 outputs the first pattern interrupt signal input from the permission determination unit 24 to the third pattern switching processing unit 26 when the control switch 203 is connected to the terminal A1 side. In addition, the disconnection preparation unit 25 controls the communication processing unit 19 to perform disconnection (termination) processing of a call currently being performed on another line.

  When the control switch 203 is connected to the terminal A1 side, the third pattern switching processing unit 26 receives the first pattern interrupt signal output from the disconnection preparation unit 25 and is transmitted from the communication terminal device 1A. Terminal set information (1A to 1N, 1Z) obtained by adding information indicating the communication terminal apparatus 1A and information indicating the communication terminal apparatus 1Z, which are included in the interrupt signal of 1 pattern, to the current terminal set information (1B to 1N) ) Is output to the reconstruction processing unit 15. Further, the third pattern switching processing unit 26 does not operate when the control switch 203 is connected to the terminal D1 side.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the second interrupt pattern processing unit 30 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The second interrupt pattern processing unit 30 includes a connection preparation unit 31, a first pattern switching processing unit 32, a permission determination unit 33, a number determination unit 34, a cutting preparation unit 35 and 37, a third pattern switching processing unit 36, A two-pattern switching processing unit 38 and control switches 39a to 39c are provided.

  First, the connection preparation unit 31 receives the interrupt signal of the second pattern output from the interrupt determination unit 12, and the communication terminal device 1Z included in the interrupt signal of the second pattern transmits a line connection request. Information representing the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z that are in a multi-party call to be connected is output to the communication processing unit 19. The connection preparation unit 31 outputs a second pattern interrupt signal to the control switch 39a.

  The communication processing unit 19 shown in FIG. 2 receives information representing the communication terminal devices 1A and 1Z output from the connection preparation unit 31 shown in FIG. 4, and makes the multi-party call between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z. Connect with a line different from the line used for Next, the communication processing unit 19 connects the control switch 39a to the terminal Y2 side when the connection between the two communication terminal devices 1A and 1Z is established, and connects the control switch 39a to the terminal N2 when the connection is not established. Control to connect to the side.

  The communication processing unit 19 shown in FIG. 2 participates when a participation approval signal or a participation rejection signal is input from the communication terminal device 1A while the two communication terminal devices 1A and 1Z are talking on the separate line. An approval signal or a participation rejection signal is output to the permission determination unit 33. In addition, when the communication processing unit 19 outputs a participation approval signal or a participation rejection signal to the permission determination unit 33, the communication processing unit 19 performs a disconnection (termination) process of a call performed on another line under the control of the disconnection preparation units 35 and 37. Do. However, here, it is assumed that the communication processing unit 19 performs line disconnection (end) processing even when there is a disconnection request signal from two communication terminal apparatuses 1A and 1Z that are communicating on separate lines. .

  When the control switch 39a is connected to the terminal Y2 side, the first pattern switching processing unit 32 shown in FIG. 3 receives the second pattern interrupt signal output from the connection preparation unit 31, and receives the second pattern switching signal. Terminal set information (1B to 1N) obtained by removing the communication terminal device 1A included in the interrupt signal from the current terminal set (1A to 1N) is output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15. The first pattern switching processing unit 32 outputs the interrupt signal of the second pattern to the permission determining unit 33 when the control switch 39a is connected to the terminal Y2 side. Further, the first pattern switching processing unit 32 does not operate when the control switch 39a is connected to the terminal N2 side.

  The permission determination unit 33 receives the interrupt signal of the second pattern output from the first pattern switching processing unit 32 and the participation approval signal or participation rejection signal output from the communication processing unit 19. When the participation approval signal is input from the communication processing unit 19, the permission determination unit 33 connects the control switch 39 b to the terminal A <b> 2 side, and outputs an interrupt signal of the second pattern to the number determination unit 34. Further, when a participation denial signal is input from the communication processing unit 19, the permission determination unit 33 connects the control switch 39 b to the terminal D 2 side and outputs an interrupt signal of the second pattern to the disconnection preparation unit 37.

  The number determination unit 34 receives an interrupt signal of the second pattern from the permission determination unit 33 when the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal A2. The number determination unit 34 compares the number of communication terminal devices currently participating in multi-party calls with the maximum number of terminal devices capable of multi-party calls, and is currently participating in multi-party calls. When the number of devices is smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices, the control switch 39c is connected to the terminal P2 side, and an interrupt signal of the second pattern is output to the disconnection preparation unit 35. Here, the maximum number of terminal devices can be set to a predetermined number equal to or less than the number of layers of scalable coding, for example. In addition, when the number of communication terminal devices currently participating in the multi-party call is not less than the maximum number of terminal devices, the number determination unit 34 connects the control switch 39c to the terminal Q2 side and connects to the disconnection preparation unit 35. An interrupt signal of the second pattern is output.

  When the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal D2 side, the cutting preparation unit 37 receives the second pattern interrupt signal output from the permission determination unit 33 and receives the input second pattern interrupt signal. The data is output to the two-pattern switching processing unit 38. Also, the disconnection preparation unit 37 controls the communication processing unit 19 to perform disconnection (termination) processing of a call currently being performed on another line when the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal D2. Further, the cutting preparation unit 37 does not operate when the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal A2.

  When the interrupt signal of the second pattern output from the number determination unit 34 is input to the cutting preparation unit 35 and the control switch 39c is connected to the terminal Q2, the interrupt preparation unit 35 receives the input interrupt signal of the second pattern. When the control switch 39c is connected to the terminal P2 side, the inputted second pattern interrupt signal is outputted to the third pattern switching processing unit 36. In addition, the disconnection preparation unit 35 controls the communication processing unit 19 to perform disconnection (termination) processing of a call currently being performed on another line.

  When the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal D2 side, the second pattern switching processing unit 38 receives the interrupt signal of the second pattern output from the disconnection preparation unit 37, and participates in the multi-party call. Terminal set information (1A to 1N) obtained by adding information indicating the communication terminal apparatus 1A included in the interrupt signal of the second pattern transmitted from the terminal apparatus 1Z to the current terminal set information (1B to 1N). The data is output to the reconstruction processing unit 15. Also, the second pattern switching processing unit 38 receives the second pattern interrupt signal output from the disconnection preparation unit 35 and transmits it from the communication terminal device 1A when the control switch 39c is connected to the terminal Q2. The terminal set information (1A to 1N) obtained by adding the information indicating the communication terminal device 1A included in the first pattern interrupt signal to the current terminal set information (1B to 1N) to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 Output. Further, the second pattern switching processing unit 38 does not operate when the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal D2 side and the control switch 39c is connected to the terminal Q2 side.

  When the control switch 39c is connected to the terminal P2 side, the third pattern switching processing unit 36 receives the second pattern interrupt signal output from the cutting preparation unit 35 and is included in the second pattern interrupt signal. Terminal set information (1A to 1N, 1Z) obtained by adding information indicating the communication terminal apparatus 1A and information indicating the communication terminal apparatus 1Z to the current terminal set information (1B to 1N) to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 Output. In addition, the third pattern switching processing unit 36 does not operate when the control switch 39b is connected to the terminal D2.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the third interrupt pattern processing unit 40 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The third interrupt pattern processing unit 40 includes a number determination unit 41, a cutting preparation unit 42, a fourth pattern switching processing unit 43, and a control switch 44.

  The number determination unit 41 receives the interrupt signal of the third pattern output from the interrupt determination unit 12. The number determination unit 41 determines whether or not the number of communication terminal devices currently participating in the multi-party call is 2 or less, and if it is determined that the number is not 2 or less, connects the control switch 44 to the terminal P3 side. Then, an interrupt signal of the third pattern is output to the cutting preparation unit 42. Also, when the number determination unit 41 determines that the number of communication terminal devices currently participating in a multi-party call is 2 or less, the number determination unit 41 connects the control switch 44 to the terminal Q3 side and connects the communication processing unit 19 to the third. The interrupt signal of the pattern is output.

  When the number determination unit 41 determines that the number is not 2 or less, the cutting preparation unit 42 receives the third pattern interrupt signal, and transmits the input third pattern interrupt signal to the communication processing unit 19. The communication terminal device 1N specified by the third pattern interrupt signal is requested to be disconnected. The cutting preparation unit 42 also outputs the input third pattern interrupt signal to the fourth pattern switching processing unit 43. When the number determination unit 41 determines that the number is 2 or less, the cutting preparation unit 42 does not perform the above processing.

  When the third pattern interrupt signal is input from the disconnection preparation unit 42, the fourth pattern switching processing unit 43 displays information indicating the communication terminal device 1N included in the third pattern interrupt signal as terminal set information (1A to 1A). The terminal set information (1A to 1M) excluded from 1N) is output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15. When the number determination unit 41 determines that the number is 2 or less, the fourth pattern switching processing unit 43 does not perform the above processing.

  The communication processing unit 19 illustrated in FIG. 2 performs call termination processing when the interrupt signal of the third pattern output from the number determination unit 41 illustrated in FIG. 5 is input. Since the call termination process can be performed in the same manner as a normal call process performed between two parties, a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of relay apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the reception unit 11 of the relay device 10 receives signals transmitted as packets from the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N and outputs the received signals to the interrupt determination unit 12 (S1).

  Next, the interrupt determination unit 12 of the relay device 10 interrupts for changing the connection of the communication terminal device so as to increase or decrease the number of participants in the multi-party call in the signal from each communication terminal device received in step S1. It is determined whether or not a signal is included (S2). When it is determined that an interrupt signal is included, the process proceeds to step S8. When it is determined that an interrupt signal is not included, the encoded information is encoded information. The data is output to the separation unit 13, and the process proceeds to step S3. Here, even when it is determined in step S2 that an interrupt signal is included, for other received signals that do not include an interrupt signal, the process proceeds to step S3.

  When it is determined in step S2 that the interrupt signal is not included, the encoded information separation unit 13 of the relay device 10 receives the signal including the reception encoded information output from the interrupt determination unit 12, and receives the reception encoded information. Are sequentially separated into an information source code component and a control information component, and the sequentially separated information source code component and control information component are output to the encoded information management unit 14 (S3).

  When the information source code component and the control information component are output to the encoded information management unit 14 in step S3, the encoded information management unit 14 of the relay apparatus 10 receives the information source code component and the control information until the information source code and the control information are obtained. Control information components are sequentially accumulated (S4).

  Next, the encoded information management unit 14 of the relay device 10 determines whether or not the information source code and the control information are obtained by sequentially storing the information source code component and the control information component in step S4 (S5). When it is determined that the information source code and the control information are not obtained, the processing from step S1 is repeated, and when it is determined that the information source code and the control information are obtained, the process proceeds to step S6.

  When it is determined in step S2 that the interrupt signal is included, the interrupt determination unit 12 of the relay apparatus 10 determines the interrupt signal pattern, and determines the interrupt signal according to the interrupt signal pattern. 40 (S8).

  When it is determined in step S8 that the interrupt signal pattern is the first pattern, the interrupt determination unit 12 outputs the first pattern interrupt signal to the first interrupt pattern processing unit 20, and the first interrupt pattern. The processing unit 20 performs first interrupt pattern processing to be described later, and outputs the obtained interrupt processing output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 (S91).

  When it is determined in step S8 that the interrupt signal pattern is the second pattern, the interrupt determination unit 12 outputs the second pattern interrupt signal to the second interrupt pattern processing unit 30, and the second interrupt pattern. The processing unit 30 performs second interrupt pattern processing described later, and outputs the obtained interrupt processing output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 (S92).

  When it is determined in step S8 that the interrupt signal pattern is the third pattern, the interrupt determination unit 12 outputs the third pattern interrupt signal to the third interrupt pattern processing unit 40, and the third interrupt pattern. The processing unit 40 performs third interrupt pattern processing described later, and outputs the obtained interrupt processing output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 (S93).

  When it is determined in step S5 that the information source code and the control information have been obtained, the reconfiguration processing unit 15 of the relay apparatus 10 regenerates the information source code to be transmitted to each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N based on the control parameter. In addition, the control information is generated and output to the encoded information integration unit 16a (S6).

  When the reconstructed information source code and the generated control information are output to the encoded information integration unit 16a in step S6, the encoded information integration unit 16a of the relay device 10 generates the reconfigured information source code and The control information is transmitted to each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N (S7).

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the first interrupt pattern processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the number determination unit 21 of the first interrupt pattern processing unit 20 has a smaller number of communication terminal devices 1A to 1N currently participating in a multi-party call than the maximum number of terminal devices capable of multi-party call. (S101), when it is determined that the number is less than the maximum number of terminal devices, the process proceeds to step S102. When it is determined that the number is not less than the maximum number of terminal devices, the process proceeds to step S110.

  When it is determined in step S101 that the number is less than the maximum number of terminal devices, the communication processing unit 19 temporarily sets the communication terminal device 1A from a line on which a multi-party call is made (hereinafter referred to as “multi-party call line”). The number determination unit 21 separates and generates terminal set information (1B to 1N) and outputs it to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 (S102).

  When the communication terminal device 1A is temporarily disconnected from the multi-party call line in step S102, the communication processing unit 19 receives from the communication terminal device 1A the telephone number of the communication terminal device 1Z to be newly added to the multi-party call ( S103).

  When the telephone number of the communication terminal device 1Z is received from the communication terminal device 1A in step S103, the communication processing unit 19 performs a connection process between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z on a line different from the multi-party call line. (S104).

  When the connection processing is performed in step S104, the communication processing unit 19 determines whether or not the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z is established (S105), and when determining that the connection is established, The process proceeds to step S106, and when it is determined that a connection is not established, the process proceeds to step S111.

  When it is determined in step S105 that the connection has been established, the communication processing unit 19 receives a participation permission signal from the communication terminal device 1Z (S106).

  When the communication processing unit 19 receives the participation permission signal from the communication terminal device 1Z in step S106, the permission determination unit 24 determines whether or not the received participation permission signal is a participation approval signal (S107). When it is determined that the signal is a participation approval signal, the process proceeds to step S108. When it is determined that the received participation permission signal is not a participation approval signal but a participation rejection signal, the process proceeds to step S112.

  When determining that the participation permission signal received in step S107 is a participation approval signal, the communication processing unit 19 temporarily disconnects the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z (S108).

  When the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z is temporarily disconnected in step S108, the communication processing unit 19 causes the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z to participate in the multiparty call. Connect to the telephone line (S109).

  When it is determined in step S105 that the connection is not established, the communication processing unit 19 connects the communication terminal device 1A to the multi-party call line so that the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N can make a multi-party call (S111).

  When determining that the participation permission signal received in step S107 is a participation rejection signal, the communication processing unit 19 disconnects the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z (S112).

  When the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z is disconnected in step S112, the communication processing unit 19 connects the communication terminal device 1A to the multi-party call line, and multi-party calls are made between the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N. It is made possible (S113).

  When it is determined in step S101 that the number of communication terminal devices 1A to 1N participating in the multi-party call is not less than the maximum number of terminal devices, the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z are connected to the multi-party call line in step S109. When the communication terminal device 1A is connected to the multi-party call line at step S111, or when the communication terminal device 1A is connected to the multi-party call line at step S113, the interrupt processing output such as terminal set information is output. Is output to the reconstruction processing unit 15 (S110).

  When the interrupt processing output generated in step S110 determines that the number of communication terminal devices 1A to 1N participating in the multiparty call is not smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices in step S101, the first interrupt is output. It is a signal, and when the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z are connected to the multi-party call line in step S109, it is terminal aggregate information (1A to 1N, 1Z), and in step S111, the communication terminal device 1A is The terminal aggregate information (1A to 1N) is obtained when the communication terminal device 1A is connected to the multi-party call line in step S113.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the second interrupt pattern processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the connection preparation unit 31 of the second interrupt pattern processing unit 30 outputs the interrupt signal of the second pattern to the communication processing unit 19 when the interrupt signal of the second pattern is input, and the communication processing unit 19 19 designates a communication terminal apparatus 1Z that has transmitted the interrupt signal of the second pattern and a communication terminal apparatus (hereinafter referred to as communication terminal apparatus 1A) to which the communication terminal apparatus 1Z is to connect, as a multi-party call line. Performs connection processing for connecting with another line (S201).

  When the connection processing is performed in step S201, the communication processing unit 19 determines whether or not the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z is established (S202), and when determining that the connection is established, The process proceeds to step S203, and when it is determined that the connection is not established, the process proceeds to step S209.

  When it is determined in step S202 that the connection has been established, the communication processing unit 19 temporarily disconnects the communication terminal device 1A from the line on which the multi-party call is performed (hereinafter referred to as “multi-party call line”). Terminal set information (1B to 1N) is generated and output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 (S203).

  When the communication terminal device 1A is temporarily disconnected in step S203, the communication processing unit 19 receives a participation permission signal from the communication terminal device 1A (S204).

  When the communication processing unit 19 receives a participation permission signal from the communication terminal device 1A in step S204, the permission determination unit 33 determines whether or not the received participation permission signal is a participation approval signal (S205). When it is determined that the signal is a participation approval signal, the process proceeds to step S206. When it is determined that the received participation permission signal is not a participation approval signal but a participation rejection signal, the process proceeds to step S210.

  When determining that the participation permission signal received in step S205 is a participation approval signal, the number determination unit 34 determines whether or not the number of communication terminal devices participating in the multi-party call is smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices. If it is determined that the number is smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices, the process proceeds to step S207. If it is determined that the number is not smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices, the process proceeds to step S210.

  When it is determined in step S206 that the number is smaller than the maximum number of terminal devices, the communication processing unit 19 temporarily disconnects the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z (S207).

  When the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z is temporarily disconnected in step S207, the communication processing unit 19 causes the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z to participate in the multi-party call. Connect to the telephone line (S208).

  When it is determined in step S205 that the participation permission / prohibition signal is a participation rejection signal, the communication processing unit 19 waits for the disconnection request signal to be input (S210). The process proceeds to step S211.

  When determining that the disconnection request signal has been input in step S210, the communication processing unit 19 temporarily disconnects the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z (S211).

  When the connection between the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z is temporarily disconnected in step S211, the communication processing unit 19 connects the communication terminal device 1A to the multi-party call line so as to participate in the multi-party call ( S212).

  When it is determined in step S202 that the connection is not established, communication terminal device 1A and communication terminal device 1Z are connected to the multi-party call line in step S208, or communication terminal device 1A is set to the multi-party call line in step S212. When connected, an interrupt processing output such as terminal set information is output to the reconfiguration processing unit 15 (S209).

  The interrupt process output generated in step S209 is a second interrupt signal when it is determined that the connection is not established in step S202, and in step S208, the communication terminal device 1A and the communication terminal device 1Z are connected to multiple users. It is terminal set information (1A to 1N, 1Z) when connected to a telephone line, and terminal set information (1A to 1N) when communication terminal apparatus 1A is connected to a multi-party telephone line in step S212.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining a third interrupt pattern process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, when the interrupt signal of the third pattern is input, the number determination unit 41 of the third interrupt pattern processing unit 40 sets the number of communication terminal devices 1A to 1N participating in the multiparty call to 2. It is determined whether or not (S301), and when it is determined that 2 is exceeded, the process proceeds to step S302. When it is determined that 2 is not exceeded, the process proceeds to step S304.

  When determining that the number exceeds 2 in step S301, the communication processing unit 19 disconnects the communication terminal device 1N that has transmitted the interrupt signal of the third pattern from the multi-party call line, and switches to communication between the communication terminal devices 1A to 1M. (S302).

  When the communication terminal device 1N is disconnected from the multi-party call line in step S302, the fourth pattern switching processing unit 43 displays information indicating the communication terminal device 1N included in the interrupt signal of the third pattern as terminal set information (1A to 1N). The terminal set information (1A to 1M) excluded from () is output to the reconstruction processing unit 15 (S303).

  When it is determined in step S301 that the number is 2 or less, the number determination unit 41 outputs a third pattern interrupt signal to the communication processing unit 19, and the communication processing unit 19 performs a process of terminating communication (S304). Here, the process of terminating the communication is well known, and the description thereof is omitted here.

  As described above, since the relay apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention reconfigures and transmits input encoded information without decoding, the conventional communication apparatus, communication method, and the like. However, it is possible to realize a multi-party call system that suppresses communication cost and line usage rate, and does not increase calculation cost in processing, and further prevents a large deterioration of decoded speech.

  In a communication system including a relay device that transmits a voice / music signal using scalable coding technology, the encoded information transmitted from a plurality of communication terminal devices in the relay device is divided into encoded information in units of layers. It reconfigure | reconstructs and transmits to each communication terminal device 1A-1N etc. Thereby, a multi-party call of three or more parties can be flexibly realized. Also, by reconfiguring the encoded information in units of layers, compared with the conventional technique in which encoded information from a plurality of communication terminal apparatuses is once decoded and superimposed in the relay apparatus and then re-encoded, the decoded signal is significantly Multi-party calls without quality degradation can be realized.

  In addition, based on the control parameters including the transmission bit rate of the past transmission, in order to create control information for combining the encoded information to be transmitted to each communication terminal apparatus, the control information is newly detected by detecting the transmission bit rate. The processing load to be created can be reduced.

  Further, since the control parameters are set based on the communication state including the sound level of the sound to be reproduced and the line status, it is possible to realize a layer configuration that reproduces the sound that can be easily heard on the receiving side.

  In addition, since the control parameter is updated when the number of participants in the multiparty call is changed, it is possible to further reduce the processing load for creating the control information.

  In addition, since the encoding information is selected and combined based on the control parameter, the processing load can be reduced.

  In addition, since the encoded information transmitted in the next time zone is received after the encoded information transmitted in the same time zone is received, the processing can be clarified.

  In addition, since the two communication terminal devices related to the interruption are connected through a line different from the line on which the multi-party call is performed, the processing related to the interruption can be performed without interrupting the multi-party call.

  In addition, since the two communication terminal devices related to the interruption are connected through a line different from the line on which the multi-party call is performed, the processing related to the interruption can be performed without interrupting the multi-party call.

  In addition, since the signal processing method according to the first embodiment of the present invention reconstructs and transmits input encoded information without decoding, the processing is more efficient than conventional communication devices and communication methods. Further, it is possible to realize a multi-party call system that prevents the decoded speech from being greatly deteriorated without increasing the calculation cost.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, the signal processing operation in which the relay device performs signal processing for performing multi-party calls has been described. However, the present invention is a signal that causes a computer to perform this signal processing operation. The same applies to the processing program. The present invention can also be applied to a case where a signal processing program is recorded and written on a machine-readable recording medium such as a memory, a disk, a tape, a CD, or a DVD, and the operation is performed. The same action and effect as the form can be obtained.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a block configuration of a communication terminal apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 10, communication terminal apparatuses 1 </ b> A to 1 </ b> N and the like include an encoded information reception / separation unit 110, a control information separation unit 120, a decoding unit 130, an encoding unit 210, and an encoded information transmission integration unit 230. Composed. Hereinafter, each processing block will be described in detail.

  The encoded information reception / separation unit 110 receives encoded information transmitted from the relay apparatus 10 via the transmission paths 2A to 2N and 2Z, and uses the encoded information as an information source code (hereinafter referred to as “received information source code”). .) And control information are separated and extracted, the obtained received information source code is output to the decoding unit 130, and the control information is output to the control information separation unit 120.

  The control information separator 120 receives the control information from the encoded information reception separator 110 and analyzes the control information. The control information separating unit 120 analyzes the control information, and then separates the information source code configuration information used for decoding and the transmission mode information used for encoding, and decodes the information source code configuration information. The transmission mode information is output to the encoding unit 210. Here, the information source code configuration information is information indicating the layer configuration of the information source code, and the transmission mode information is predetermined information including a transmission bit rate. Specifically, control information separation section 120 outputs information source code configuration information in the control information to decoding section 130 and outputs transmission mode information in the control information to encoding section 210.

  The decoding unit 130 receives the received information source code from the encoded information receiving / separating unit 110 and also receives the information source code configuration information from the control information separating unit 120. The decoding unit 130 decodes the information source code based on the input information source code configuration information, and obtains an output signal.

  The encoding unit 210 receives an input signal such as an audio signal and also receives transmission mode information from the control information separation unit 120, encodes the input signal based on the input transmission mode information, and transmits a transmission information source code. Is generated. Encoding section 210 outputs the obtained information source code and transmission mode information to encoded information transmission integration section 230.

  The encoded information transmission integration unit 230 receives the information source code and the transmission mode information from the encoding unit 210, integrates the input information source code and the transmission mode information, generates transmission encoded information, and performs transmission encoding. Information is output to the relay device 10 via the transmission lines 2A to 2N and 2Z.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of an encoding unit 210 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the encoding unit 210 divides the input signal into data of N samples (N is a natural number) and encodes the obtained N samples of data as one frame for each frame.

  The encoding unit 210 includes an encoding operation control unit 211, control switches 222a, 222b, 224a, 224b, 226a, and 226b, a base layer encoding unit 221a, a base layer decoding unit 221b, a first enhancement layer encoding unit 223a, A first enhancement layer decoding unit 223b, a second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a, a second enhancement layer decoding unit 225b, a third enhancement layer encoding unit 227, and adders 212, 213, and 214 are included.

  Transmission mode information is input to the encoding operation control unit 211. The encoding operation control unit 211 performs on / off control of the control switches 222a, 222b, 224a, 224b, 226a, and 226b according to the input transmission mode information. Specifically, when the transmission mode information is BR4, the encoding operation control unit 211 turns on all the control switches 222a, 222b, 224a, 224b, 226a, and 226b.

  Further, when the transmission mode information is BR3, the encoding operation control unit 211 turns on the control switches 222a, 222b, 224a, and 224b and turns off the control switches 226a and 226b. Also, when the transmission mode information is BR2, the encoding operation control unit 211 turns on the control switches 222a and 222b and turns off the control switches 224a, 224b, 226a, and 226b.

  Also, when the transmission mode information is BR1, the encoding operation control unit 211 turns off all the control switches 222a, 222b, 224a, 224b, 226a, and 226b. Also, the encoding operation control unit 211 outputs the transmission mode information to the encoded information transmission integration unit 230. As described above, the encoding operation control unit 211 performs on / off control of the control switch group according to the transmission mode information, thereby determining the combination of the encoding units used for encoding the input signal.

  The base layer encoding unit 221a receives an input signal such as a speech signal, encodes the input signal using a CELP type speech encoding method, generates a base layer information source code, and generates the generated base layer The layer information source code is output to the encoded information transmission integration unit 230 and the control switch 222b. The configuration of base layer encoding section 221a will be described later.

  When the control switch 222b is turned on, the base layer decoding unit 221b performs decoding using the CELP type speech decoding method on the base layer information source code output from the base layer encoding unit 221a. A layer decoded signal is generated, and the generated base layer decoded signal is output to adder 212. Note that the base layer decoding unit 221b does not operate when the control switch 222b is off. The configuration of base layer decoding section 221b will be described later.

  When the control switches 222a and 222b are on, the adder 212 inverts the polarity of the base layer decoded signal and adds it to the input signal to generate a first difference signal, and the first difference obtained by the addition The signal is output to first enhancement layer encoding section 223a and control switch 224a. The adder 212 does not operate when the control switches 222a and 222b are off.

  When the control switches 222a and 222b are on, the first enhancement layer encoding unit 223a performs encoding using the CELP type speech encoding method on the first differential signal obtained from the adder 212, and performs first encoding. An enhancement layer information source code is generated, and the generated first enhancement layer information source code is output to the control switch 224b and the encoded information transmission integration unit 230. The first enhancement layer coding unit 223a does not operate when the control switches 222a and 222b are off.

  When the control switch 224b is on, the first enhancement layer decoding unit 223b uses the CELP type speech decoding method for the first enhancement layer information source code output from the first enhancement layer encoding unit 223a. Decoding is performed to generate a first enhancement layer decoded signal, and the generated first enhancement layer decoded signal is output to adder 213. The first enhancement layer decoding unit 223b does not operate when the control switch 224b is off.

  When the control switches 224a and 224b are on, the adder 213 inverts the polarity of the first enhancement layer decoded signal and adds the first difference signal obtained from the control switch 224a to generate a second difference signal. The generated second differential signal is output to the second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a. The adder 213 does not operate when the control switches 224a and 224b are off.

  When the control switches 224a and 224b are on, the second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a encodes the second differential signal output from the adder 213 using a CELP type speech encoding method. The two enhancement layer information source codes are generated, and the generated second enhancement layer information source code is output to the encoded information transmission integration unit 230. The second enhancement layer coding unit 225a does not operate when the control switches 224a and 224b are off.

  When the control switches 226a and 226b are on, the second enhancement layer decoding unit 225b applies a CELP type speech decoding method to the second enhancement layer information source code output from the second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a. Then, decoding is performed to generate a second enhancement layer decoded signal, and the generated second enhancement layer decoded signal is output to the adder 214. The second enhancement layer decoding unit 225b does not operate when the control switch 226b is off.

  When the control switches 226a and 226b are on, the adder 214 adds a signal obtained by inverting the polarity of the second enhancement layer decoded signal to the second differential signal obtained from the control switch 226a. The three difference signals are output to the third enhancement layer encoding unit 227. The adder 214 does not operate when the control switches 226a and 226b are off.

  The third enhancement layer encoding unit 227 encodes the third differential signal output from the adder 214 using a CELP type speech encoding method when the control switches 226a and 226b are on, The information source code obtained by encoding (hereinafter referred to as “third enhancement layer information source code”) is output to encoded information transmission integration section 230. Note that the third enhancement layer encoding unit 227 does not operate when the control switches 226a and 226b are off.

  The encoded information transmission integration unit 230 includes information source codes output from the base layer encoding unit 221a, the first enhancement layer encoding unit 223a, the second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a, and the third enhancement layer encoding unit 227. And the transmission mode information output from the encoding operation control unit 211 are integrated to generate encoded information, and the generated encoded information is output to the transmission path 2A.

  Next, the data structure (bit stream) of the pre-transmission encoded information will be described with reference to FIG. When the transmission mode information indicates that the transmission bit rate is BR1, the encoded information is composed of control information, a base layer information source code, and a redundant part as shown in FIG. When the transmission mode information is BR2, the encoded information is configured by control information, a base layer information source code, a first enhancement layer information source code, and a redundant part, as shown in FIG. 12 (b).

  When the transmission mode information indicates that the transmission bit rate is BR3, the encoded information includes control information, a base layer information source code, a first enhancement layer information source code, and a second enhancement layer information, as shown in FIG. It consists of a source code and a redundant part. When the transmission mode information indicates that the transmission bit rate is BR4, the encoded information includes control information, a base layer information source code, a first enhancement layer information source code, and a second enhancement layer information, as shown in FIG. It consists of a source code, a third enhancement layer information source code and a redundant part.

  Here, the redundant part in the data structure in FIG. 12 is a redundant data storage part prepared in the bit stream, such as a bit for transmission error detection / correction, a counter for synchronizing packets, and the like. Used for

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a block configuration of base layer encoding section 221a according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a case where the base layer encoding unit 221a performs speech encoding using a CELP type speech encoding method will be described as an example.

  The base layer encoding unit 221a includes a preprocessing unit 301, an LPC analysis unit 302, an LPC quantization unit 303, a synthesis filter 304, adders 305 and 311, an adaptive excitation codebook 306, and a quantization gain generation. Means 307, fixed excitation codebook 308, multipliers 309 and 310, perceptual weighting means 312, parameter determining means 313, and multiplexing unit 314.

  The pre-processing unit 301 receives a pre-encoding input signal, and performs a waveform shaping process, so-called pre-emphasis process, etc., that leads to improvement in performance of a high-pass filter process that removes a DC component from the input signal and a subsequent encoding process. The signal Xin obtained by the processing is output to the LPC analysis means 302 and the adder 305.

  The LPC analysis means 302 receives the signal Xin output from the preprocessing means 301, performs linear prediction analysis processing on the signal Xin to generate linear prediction coefficients, and uses the obtained linear prediction coefficients as LPC quantization means 303. Output to.

  The LPC quantization unit 303 receives the linear prediction coefficient output from the LPC analysis unit 302, performs a quantization process on the linear prediction coefficient (LPC), generates a quantized LPC, and obtains the obtained quantized LPC. In addition to outputting to the synthesis filter 304, the synthesis filter 304 outputs to the multiplexing unit 314 a code L indicating that the synthesis filter 304 performs synthesis filter (referred to as filter synthesis) processing based on the quantized LPC.

  The synthesis filter 304 receives an output signal from an adder 311 (to be described later) and a linear prediction coefficient output from the LPC quantization unit 303, determines a filter coefficient for synthesis filter processing based on the quantized LPC, and adds The output signal from the unit 311 is subjected to synthesis filter processing to generate a synthesized signal, and the obtained synthesized signal is output to the adder 305.

  The adder 305 receives the signal Xin output from the preprocessing unit 301 and the combined signal output from the combining filter 304, calculates the error signal by inverting the polarity of the combined signal and adding it to the signal Xin, The obtained error signal is output to the auditory weighting means 312.

  The adaptive excitation codebook 306 receives an adaptive excitation vector code A output from the parameter determination means 313 described later, and samples one frame from the past driving excitation (match) specified according to the adaptive excitation vector code A. Is extracted as an adaptive excitation vector and output to the multiplier 309. Here, it is assumed that the driving sound source stores the driving sound source output from the adder 311 in the past in the buffer.

  The quantization gain generation unit 307 receives the excitation gain code G output from the parameter determination unit 313 described later, and specifies the quantization adaptive excitation gain and the quantization fixed excitation gain according to the input excitation gain code G. The specified quantized adaptive sound source gain and quantized fixed sound source gain are output to multiplier 309 and multiplier 310, respectively. Here, the quantized adaptive excitation gain is a gain for amplifying the adaptive excitation vector output from adaptive excitation codebook 306, and the quantized fixed excitation gain is a fixed output output from fixed excitation codebook 308 described later. This is a gain for amplifying the sound source vector.

  Fixed excitation codebook 308 receives a fixed excitation vector code F output from parameter determination means 313 described later, and multiplies a pulse excitation vector having a shape specified according to the input fixed excitation vector code F by a diffusion vector. Then, a fixed sound source vector is generated, and the obtained fixed sound source vector is output to the multiplier 310.

  The multiplier 309 receives the adaptive excitation vector output from the adaptive excitation codebook 306 and the quantized adaptive excitation gain output from the quantization gain generation means 307, multiplies the adaptive excitation vector by the quantized adaptive excitation gain, The result is output to the adder 311. The multiplier 310 receives the fixed excitation vector output from the fixed excitation codebook 308 and the quantized fixed excitation gain output from the quantization gain generating means 307, multiplies the fixed excitation vector by the quantized fixed excitation gain, The result is output to the adder 311.

  The adder 311 receives the gain-multiplied adaptive excitation vector output from the multiplier 309 and the fixed excitation vector output from the multiplier 310, and adds the adaptive excitation vector and the fixed excitation vector to generate a driving excitation. The generated driving excitation is output to the synthesis filter 304 and the adaptive excitation codebook 306. The drive excitation input to adaptive excitation codebook 306 is stored in the buffer.

  The perceptual weighting means 312 receives the error signal output from the adder 305, weights the error signal in consideration of perception, generates encoding distortion, and determines the obtained encoding distortion as parameter determination means. It outputs to 313.

  The parameter determination unit 313 receives the coding distortion output from the perceptual weighting unit 312, and sets the adaptive excitation vector, fixed excitation vector, and quantization gain that minimize the coding distortion to the adaptive excitation codebook 306, The adaptive excitation vector code A, the fixed excitation vector code F, and the excitation gain code G are generated by selecting from the data of the fixed excitation codebook 308 and the quantization gain generation means 307, and output to the multiplexing unit 314. Here, the adaptive excitation vector code is information for specifying the adaptive excitation vector selected by the parameter determination means 313, the fixed excitation vector code is information for specifying the fixed excitation vector, and the excitation gain code is the quantization adaptive excitation code. This information specifies the gain and the quantized fixed sound source gain.

  The multiplexing unit 314 receives as input the code L representing the quantized LPC output from the LPC quantizing means 303 and the adaptive excitation vector code A, fixed excitation vector code F and excitation gain code G output from the parameter determining means 313. These information are multiplexed to generate and output a base layer information source code.

  Since the configuration of the first enhancement layer encoding unit 223a, the second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a, and the third enhancement layer encoding unit 227 illustrated in FIG. 11 is the same as that of the base layer encoding unit 221a, The description is omitted. However, the signal input to the first enhancement layer encoding unit 223a, the second enhancement layer encoding unit 225a, and the third enhancement layer encoding unit 227 is different from the output information source code.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the base layer decoding unit 221b according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a case where the base layer decoding unit 221b performs speech decoding using a CELP type speech decoding method will be described as an example.

  In FIG. 14, the base layer decoding unit 221b includes a multiplexing / separating unit 401, an LPC decoding unit 402, a synthesis filter 403, a post-processing unit 404, an adaptive excitation codebook 405, and a quantization gain generating unit 406. A fixed excitation codebook 407, multipliers 408 and 409, and an adder 410.

  The multiplexing / separating means 401 receives the base layer information source code input to the base layer decoding unit 221b, separates the codes L, A, G, and F from the base layer information source code, and each of them is an LPC decoding means. 402, the adaptive excitation codebook 405, the quantization gain generation means 406, and the fixed excitation codebook 407.

  The LPC decoding unit 402 receives the code L output from the demultiplexing unit 401, decodes the quantized LPC based on the code L, and outputs the obtained quantized LPC to the synthesis filter 403.

  The adaptive excitation codebook 405 receives the code A output from the multiplexing / separating means 401 and selects one frame of the driving sound source specified by the code A from the stored past driving sound sources. , And output to the multiplier 408 as an adaptive excitation vector.

  The quantization gain generation means 406 receives the excitation gain code G output from the multiplexing / separation means 401, decodes the quantization adaptive excitation gain and the quantization fixed excitation gain specified by the excitation gain code G, and performs quantization adaptation. The sound source gain is output to the multiplier 408, and the quantized fixed sound source gain is output to the multiplier 409.

  The fixed excitation codebook 407 receives the code F output from the demultiplexing unit 401, generates a fixed excitation vector specified by the code F, and outputs the generated fixed excitation vector to the multiplier 409.

  The multiplier 408 receives the adaptive excitation vector output from the adaptive excitation codebook 405 and the quantized adaptive excitation gain output from the quantization gain generating means 406, multiplies the adaptive excitation vector by the quantized adaptive excitation gain, The adaptive excitation vector after gain multiplication is output to adder 410.

  The multiplier 409 receives the fixed excitation vector output from the fixed excitation codebook 407 and the quantized fixed excitation gain output from the quantization gain generating means 406, multiplies the fixed excitation vector by the quantized fixed excitation gain, The fixed excitation vector after gain multiplication is output to adder 410.

  Adder 410 adds the adaptive excitation vector after gain multiplication output from multipliers 408 and 409 and the fixed excitation vector to generate a driving excitation, and combines the obtained driving excitation with synthesis filter 403 and adaptive excitation codebook. Output to 405.

  The synthesis filter 403 receives the quantized LPC output from the LPC decoding unit 402 and the driving sound source output from the adder 410, determines a filter coefficient based on the quantized LPC, and filters the input driving sound source. A synthesis process is performed, and the obtained (synthesized) signal is output to the post-processing means 404.

  The post-processing means 404 receives the signal output from the synthesis filter 403, processes to improve the subjective quality of speech, such as formant enhancement and pitch enhancement, and improves the subjective quality of stationary noise. And the like, and output as a base layer decoded signal.

  The description of the configuration of the first enhancement layer decoding unit 223b and the second enhancement layer decoding unit 225b illustrated in FIG. 11 is the same as that of the base layer decoding unit 221b, and thus the description thereof is omitted. However, the type of information source code input to the first enhancement layer decoding unit 223b and the second enhancement layer decoding unit 225b is different from the output decoded signal.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the decoding unit 130 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a case where the decoding unit 130 performs speech decoding using the CELP type speech decoding method will be described as an example.

  The decoding unit 130 includes an encoded information management unit 131, a decoding operation control unit 132, a base layer decoding unit 133, a first enhancement layer decoding unit 135, a second enhancement layer decoding unit 137, A third enhancement layer decoding unit 139, control switches 134, 136, and 138, adders 140 to 142, and a synthesized sound management unit 143 are included.

  The encoded information management unit 131 receives the information source code output from the encoded information reception / separation unit 110 and the information source code configuration information output from the control information separation unit 120. Based on the input information source code configuration information, the encoded information management unit 131 stores the input information source code and control information in the internal memory until an information source code having a predetermined data amount is input. Specifically, the encoded information management unit 131 stores the information source codes having a predetermined amount of data transmitted from all the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N participating in the multiparty call until all the information source codes are obtained. The encoded information management unit 131 also outputs the information source code and the information source code configuration information stored in the internal memory to the decoding operation control unit 132 when all the information source codes having a predetermined data amount are input.

  The decoding operation control unit 132 receives the information source code and the information source code configuration information output from the encoded information management unit 131, and receives each of the received communication terminal devices 1A to 1N based on the information source code configuration information. For each information source code, on / off of the control switches 134, 136, and 138 is controlled, and the base layer decoding unit 133, the first enhancement layer decoding unit 135, the second enhancement layer decoding unit 137, and the third extension The corresponding layer signal is output to the layer decoding unit 139.

  Specifically, the decoding operation control unit 132 occupies the number of occupied layers (L1, L2,...) Of information source code configuration information obtained from the encoded information management unit 131 for each of the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N. ), When the number of occupied layers is 1 (the information source code configuration information is L1), all the control switches 134, 136, and 138 are turned off, and the information source code from this communication terminal apparatus is converted into the base layer decoding unit 133. Output to. In addition, when the number of occupied layers is 2 (information source code configuration information is L2), the decoding operation control unit 132 turns on the control switch 134 and turns off the control switches 136 and 138, and receives information from this communication terminal device The source codes are output to base layer decoding section 133 and first enhancement layer decoding section 135 in order from the lower layer. Also, when the number of occupied layers is 3 (the information source code configuration information is L3), the decoding operation control unit 132 turns on the control switches 134 and 136 and turns off the control switch 138, and receives information from this communication terminal apparatus. The source code is output to base layer decoding section 133, first enhancement layer decoding section 135, and second enhancement layer decoding section 137 in order from the lower layer. Also, when the number of occupied layers is 4 (information source code configuration information is L4), the decoding operation control unit 132 turns on all of the control switches 134, 136, and 138 and sets the information source code from this communication terminal device to the lower order. The base layer decoding unit 133, the first enhancement layer decoding unit 135, the second enhancement layer decoding unit 137, and the third enhancement layer decoding unit 139 are output from the information source code corresponding to each layer.

  In addition, the decoding operation control unit 132 outputs the decoded signals for the respective communication terminal devices 1A to 1N obtained until all the information source codes transmitted from the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N are decoded. A control signal is sent to the synthesized sound management unit 143 so as to be stored in the internal memory, and the operation of the synthesized sound management unit 143 is controlled.

  For example, the information source code configuration information received by the decoding operation control unit 132 of the communication terminal device 1A in a state in which a call between three parties (communication terminal devices 1A, 1B, and 1C) is performed by four-layer scalable communication is as follows. A case where “B: L2 (base, enh1) C: L2 (enh2, enh3)” will be described as an example. In this case, the decoding operation control unit 132 turns on the control switch 134, turns off the control switches 136 and 138, and performs base layer decoding on the base layer information source code that is the information source code transmitted from the communication terminal device 1B. The first enhancement layer information source code is output to the first enhancement layer decoding unit 135. Also, the decoding operation control unit 132 outputs a control signal to the synthesized sound management unit 143, and each communication terminal device 1B obtained by the base layer decoding unit 133 and the first enhancement layer decoding unit 135 decoding, The synthesized signal management unit 143 stores the decoded signal from 1C. Next, the decoding operation control unit 132 turns on the control switch 134, turns off the control switches 136 and 138, and uses the second enhancement layer information source code, which is the information source code transmitted from the communication terminal device 1C, as a base. It outputs to the layer decoding part 133, and outputs a 3rd enhancement layer information source code to the 1st enhancement layer decoding part 135. FIG.

  The base layer decoding unit 133 decodes the information source code such as the base layer information source code output from the decoding operation control unit 132 using a CELP type speech decoding method, and obtains the result by decoding. The decoded signal (hereinafter referred to as “base layer decoded signal”) is output to adder 142.

  The first enhancement layer decoding unit 135 performs CELP type speech decoding method on information source codes such as the first enhancement layer information source code output from the decoding operation control unit 132 when the control switch 134 is on. The decoded signal obtained by decoding (hereinafter referred to as “first enhancement layer decoded signal”) is output to the adder 141. Also, the first enhancement layer decoding unit 135 does not operate when the control switch 134 is off.

  The second enhancement layer decoding unit 137 uses the CELP type speech decoding method for the information source code such as the second enhancement layer information source code output from the decoding operation control unit 132 when the control switch 136 is on. And the decoded signal (hereinafter referred to as “second layer decoded signal”) obtained by the decoding is output to adder 140. Also, the second enhancement layer decoding unit 137 does not operate when the control switch 136 is off.

  Third enhancement layer decoding section 139 performs CELP type speech decoding method on information source codes such as third enhancement layer information source code output from decoding operation control section 132 when control switch 138 is on. And the decoded signal obtained by decoding (hereinafter referred to as “third enhancement layer decoded signal”) is output to adder 140. Also, the third enhancement layer decoding unit 139 does not operate when the control switch 138 is off.

  When the control switches 136 and 138 are ON, the adder 140 outputs the third enhancement layer decoded signal output from the third enhancement layer decoding unit 139 and the second enhancement layer output from the second enhancement layer decoding unit 137. The layer decoded signal is added, and the added signal is output to adder 141. Further, adder 140 outputs the second enhancement layer decoded signal output from second enhancement layer decoding section 137 to adder 141 when control switch 138 is off and control switch 136 is on. To do. The adder 140 does not operate when the control switches 136 and 138 are off.

  When the control switches 134 and 136 are on, the adder 141 outputs the second enhancement layer decoded signal output from the second enhancement layer decoding unit 137 and the first enhancement layer output from the first enhancement layer decoding unit 135. The layer decoded signal is added, and the added signal is output to adder 142. Also, adder 141 outputs the first enhancement layer decoded signal output from first enhancement layer decoding section 135 to adder 142 when control switch 136 is off and control switch 134 is on. To do. The adder 141 does not operate when the control switches 134 and 136 are off.

  When the control switch 134 is on, the adder 142 adds the decoded signal output from the adder 141 and the base layer decoded signal output from the base layer decoding unit 133, and synthesizes the signal after the addition. The sound is output to the sound management unit 143. The adder 142 outputs the base layer decoded signal obtained from the base layer decoding unit 133 to the synthesized sound management unit 143 when the control switch 134 is off.

  The synthesized sound management unit 143 receives the decoded signal output from the adder 142, and stores the input decoded signal in the internal memory based on the control from the decoding operation control unit 132. The synthesized sound management unit 143 also superimposes and adds a plurality of decoded signals stored in the internal memory based on the control from the decoding operation control unit 132, and outputs the obtained addition signal as an output signal.

  Specifically, the synthesized sound management unit 143 obtains the number of communication terminal devices constituting the information source code transmitted from the control unit (relay device) as a control signal from the decoding operation control unit 132, and this communication terminal The decoded signal is stored in the internal memory for the number of devices. The synthesized sound management unit 143 stores the decoded signals for the designated number of communication terminal devices, superimposes and adds all the stored decoded signals, and outputs the obtained added signals as output signals.

  The internal configurations of base layer decoding section 133, first enhancement layer decoding section 135, second enhancement layer decoding section 137, and third enhancement layer decoding section 139 are the same as those of base layer decoding section 221b described above. Since they are the same and only the type of input information source code and the type of output signal are different, description thereof will be omitted.

  As described above, since the communication terminal apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention reconfigures and transmits input encoded information without decoding, a conventional communication apparatus, communication method, etc. In addition, it is possible to realize a multi-party call system that prevents a large deterioration in decoded speech without increasing the calculation cost in processing.

  Further, since the encoded information is decoded for each layer based on the control information, it is possible to decode the encoded information transmitted from different communication terminal apparatuses and integrated in different layers.

  In addition, since the encoded information encoded for each layer is decoded from the base layer, it can be appropriately decoded even when the transmission bit rate is lowered.

  Further, the present invention does not limit the hierarchy, and in the hierarchical signal encoding or decoding method composed of a plurality of hierarchies, the residual signal, which is the difference between the input signal and the output signal in the lower layer, is assigned to the upper layer. This can be applied to the case of encoding in layers.

  In addition, the present invention does not limit the number of communication terminal devices capable of simultaneous multi-party calls, and communication when more than the number of hierarchies is performed even when multi-party calls are made between communication terminal devices higher than the number of scalable coding technology layers. The present invention can be applied in combination with a technique in which encoded information transmitted from a terminal device is once decoded and superimposed and then re-encoded.

  Further, the present invention does not limit the method of assigning the number of layers to each of the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N during the multi-party call at the same time, and can assign the number of layers to each of the communication terminal apparatuses 1A to 1N. In addition to the case of equalizing as much as possible, this also applies to the case where the number of layers is preferentially allocated to a terminal having a high voice level transmitted from a communication terminal apparatus or a terminal having a good line condition between relay apparatuses. And a more flexible multi-party call can be realized.

  In addition, the present invention does not limit the participation method and withdrawal method of the multi-party call system. In this embodiment, the communication terminal devices 1A to 1N and the like are withdrawn by transmitting a line disconnection request by themselves when they leave. However, the present invention can also be applied to a case where it is forcibly withdrawn by another communication terminal device.

  The relay device, the communication terminal device, the signal decoding device, the signal processing method, and the signal processing program according to the present invention can be further decoded without increasing the calculation cost in processing compared to the conventional communication device, the communication method, and the like. A relay device, a communication terminal device, a signal decoding device, a signal processing method, a signal processing program, and the like that have the effect of realizing a multi-party call system that can prevent a large deterioration in digitized voice Useful as.

The figure which shows the block configuration of the communication system which has the relay apparatus and communication terminal device which concern on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the block configuration of the relay terminal which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the block structure of the 1st interruption pattern process part which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the block configuration of the 2nd interruption pattern process part which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the block structure of the 3rd interruption pattern process part which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the relay terminal which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart for demonstrating the 1st interruption pattern process which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart for demonstrating the 2nd interruption pattern process which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart for demonstrating the 3rd interruption pattern process which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the block configuration of the communication terminal device which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the block structure of the encoding part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. Data structure diagram of encoded information transmitted from communication terminal apparatus according to second embodiment of the present invention The block diagram which shows the internal structure of the base layer encoding part of the encoding part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the internal structure of the base layer decoding part of the encoding part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the internal structure of the decoding part in the communication terminal device which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1A to 1N Communication terminal devices 2A to 2N Transmission path 10 Relay device 11 Reception unit 12 Interruption determination unit 13 Encoded information separation unit 14 Encoded information management unit 15 Reconfiguration processing unit 16 Integrated transmission unit 16a Encoded information integration unit 16b Transmitter 18a, 18b, 39a, 39b, 39c, 44, 134, 136, 138, 201, 202, 203, 222a, 222b, 224a, 224b, 226a, 226b Control switch 19 Communication processing unit 20, 30, 40 Interrupt Pattern processing unit 21, 34, 41 Number determination unit 22, 26, 27, 32, 36, 38, 43 Pattern switching processing unit 23, 31 Connection preparation unit 24, 33 Permission determination unit 25, 35, 37, 42 Cutting preparation unit 110 Encoding Information Reception Separation Unit 120 Control Information Separation Unit 130 Decoding Unit 131 Encoded Information Management Unit 132 Encoding operation control unit 133, 221b Base layer decoding unit 135, 223b First enhancement layer decoding unit 137, 225b Second enhancement layer decoding unit 139 Third enhancement layer decoding unit 140, 141, 142, 212, 213 , 214, 305, 311, 410 Adder 143 Synthesis sound management unit 210 Coding unit 211 Coding operation control unit 230 Coding information transmission integration unit 221 a Base layer coding unit 223 a First enhancement layer coding unit 225 a Second enhancement Layer coding unit 227 Third enhancement layer coding unit 301 Preprocessing means 302 LPC analysis means 303 LPC quantization means 304, 403 Synthesis filter 306, 405 Adaptive excitation codebook 307, 406 Quantization gain generation means 308, 407 Fixed excitation Codebook 309, 310, 408, 409 Multiplier 312 Satoru weighting means 313 parameter determining means 314 multiplexing unit 401 demultiplexing unit 402 LPC decoding means 404 postprocessing means

Claims (13)

A receiving unit that receives encoded information that is transmitted from each communication terminal device that participates in a multi-party call and is encoded for each layer by scalable encoding, and the receiving unit receives from each of the communication terminal devices Based on the control information created by the reconstruction processing unit that creates control information for combining the encoded information in units of layers, the receiving unit receives from each communication terminal device A relay apparatus comprising: an integrated transmission unit configured to combine and integrate the encoded information in units of layers in a scalable manner and transmit the integrated encoded information. Control parameters including transmission bit rates of past transmissions set for each of the communication terminal devices participating in the multiparty call, and the reconfiguration processing unit is configured to control each communication based on the control parameters. The relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control information for combining the encoded information to be transmitted to a terminal apparatus is created. Communication including the audio level of the audio reproduced based on each of the encoded information transmitted from each of the communication terminal devices and the line status of the line used for communication with each of the communication terminal devices The relay apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control parameter is set based on information related to a state. When a new communication terminal device participates in the multi-party call or when the communication terminal device participating in the multi-party call stops the multi-party call, the reconfiguration processing unit sets the control parameter to The relay device according to claim 2, wherein the relay device is updated. The reconfiguration processing unit selects and combines the encoded information for a predetermined layer from the base layer among the encoded information received from each of the communication terminal devices based on the control parameter. The relay device according to any one of claims 2 to 4. The reconfiguration processing unit receives the encoded information transmitted in the same time period among the encoded information transmitted in each time period by each of the communication terminal devices participating in the multiparty call The relay apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the encoded information transmitted in the next time period is received. When a new communication terminal device is to participate in the multi-party call, the communication terminal device and the new communication terminal device that are to join the new communication terminal device to the multi-party call The relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relay apparatus is connected by a line different from the line performing the communication. When making a call between the communication terminal device participating in the multi-party call and a new communication terminal device, the communication terminal device participating in the multi-party call and the new communication terminal device are The relay apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the relay apparatus is connected by a line different from a line on which a user call is made. Based on control information included in the encoded information received by the receiving unit and a receiving unit that receives encoded information encoded for each layer by scalable encoding, a speech signal is decoded by scalable decoding A decoding unit, an encoding unit that encodes a speech signal by scalable encoding based on the control information included in the encoded information received by the receiving unit, and the encoding unit obtained by encoding And a transmitter that transmits the encoded information. A coding information separation unit that separates an information source code and control information from coding information configured by a plurality of layers by scalable coding, and a decoding that decodes the coding information for each layer based on the control information And a signal decoding device. The signal decoding apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the decoding unit decodes the encoded information encoded for each layer from a base layer to a predetermined layer. A reception step in which a receiver receives encoded information that is transmitted from each communication terminal device that participates in a multi-party call and is encoded for each layer by scalable encoding; and from each communication terminal device in the reception step Based on the reconfiguration step in which a reconfiguration processing unit generates control information for combining the received encoded information in units of layers, and each of the communication terminal devices based on the control information generated by the reconfiguration processing unit An integration step in which the integrated transmission unit combines and integrates the encoded information received from each other in units of layers, and a transmission step in which the integrated transmission unit transmits the encoded information integrated in the integration step. And a signal processing method. A reception step of receiving encoded information transmitted from each communication terminal device participating in a multi-party call and encoded for each layer by scalable encoding, and from each communication terminal device in the reception step Based on the control information created in the reconfiguration step for creating the control information for combining the received encoded information in units of layers, and received from each communication terminal apparatus in the reception step A signal processing program that executes an integration step of combining and integrating the encoded information in units of layers in a scalable manner and a transmission step of transmitting the encoded information integrated in the integration step.

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